Essar (Smokey Robinson album)
| Essar | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Studio album by Smokey Robinson | ||||
| Released | 1984 | |||
| Recorded | 1984 | |||
| Genre | R&B, Soul | |||
| Label | Motown | |||
| Producer | Smokey Robinson and Reginald "Sonny" Burke | |||
| Smokey Robinson chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |   link |
Essar is a 1984 album by American singer Smokey Robinson. For the most part it was produced and arranged by Robinson with Reginald "Sonny" Burke. The album was released on the Motown sub-label Tamla.
Reception
The album only peaked at #141 on Billboard pop charts, and at #35 on R&B charts.
Singles weren't doing much better, with "And I Don't Love You" peaking at #106 Billboard and #33 R&B charts, and"I can't find" at #109 Billboard and #41 R&B charts.
Although the 12" B-Side of "And I Don't Love You" Larry Levan's Instrumental (Dub) became a Horse Meat Disco classic in the late 2000s.[1]
William Ruhlmann gave 2 out of 5 stars on AllMusic, addressing it as "the low point" in Robinson's career and holding Sonny Burke's dominating synthesiser play responsible.[2] Where Robert Christgau rated it as B+, acknowledging that there are "fillers", but concluding with "one thing you can say about Smokey's filler that you can't say about anybody else's--Smokey's singing it".[3]
Track listing
Side A
- "And I Don't Love You" (William "Smokey" Robinson) – 5:20
- "Train Of Thought" (William "Smokey" Robinson) – 4:55
- "I Can't Find" (William "Smokey" Robinson) – 6:15
- "Why Are You Running From My Love" (Scott V. Smith, Stephen Tavani) – 4:20
Side B
- "Gone Forever (Theme from the motion picture Cry of the City" (Mark Davis) – 3:10
- "Close Encounters Of The First Kind" (William "Smokey" Robinson) – 4:35
- "Little Girl Little Girl" (William "Smokey" Robinson) – 5:12
- "Girl I'm Standing There" (William "Smokey" Robinson) – 4:25
- "Driving Thru Life In The Fast Lane" (Milton Brown, Snuff Garrett, Steve Dorff) – 3:32
Personnel
- Vocals – William "Smokey" Robinson
- Backing Vocals – Ivory Davis, Patricia Henley Talbert, Smokey Robinson
- Guitars – Charles Fearing, Wah Wah Watson, David T. Walker
- Bass – "Ready" Freddie Washington
- Drums, Keyboards – Reginald "Sonny" Burke
- Producers – William "Smokey" Robinson, Jr. and Reginald "Sonny" Burke
- Arranged by Reginald "Sonny" Burke
- Assistant Mixing Engineers – William "Smokey" Robinson, Jr. and Reginald "Sonny" Burke
- Recording Engineer – Mitchel Delevie
- Mixing & Editing Engineer – Barney Perkins at Kendun Recorders, Burbank, California
- Editing Assistant – Phillip Walters
- Second Engineers – Fred Law, Jeff DeMorris
- Mastered By – Bernie Grundman at Bernie Grundman Mastering, Hollywood, California
- Contractor – George Annis
- Copyist – Andres Victorin, Music Suite
- Cover Concept – William "Smokey" Robinson
- Photography By – Aaron Rapoport
- Art Direction – Johnny Lee
Additional credits:
"And I Don't Love You"
- Yamaha DX7 Programming – Clark Spangler
- Assistant Editor – Bob Robitaille
"I Can't Find"
- Cello – Michael "Jake" Jacobsen
- Concertmaster – Harry Bluestone
"Why Are You Running From My Love" – Recorded at Mama Jo's, North Hollywood, with:
- Backing Vocals – Howard McCrary, Howard Smith, Ivory Davis
- Guitar – James Harrah
- Keyboards – Michael Ruff
- Synthesizer Programming – Rhett Lawrence
- LinnDrum Programming – Davis Lynn Coulter, Scott V. Smith
- Engineers – Chris Banninger, Frank Wolf, Win Kutz
- Second Engineers – Steve Ford, Todd Van Etten
- Producers - Scott V. Smith, Stephen Tavani
"Gone Forever" – Recorded at Golden Sound Studios, Inc., Hollywood with:
- Backing Vocals – Allan Rich, Carmen Grillio, Mindy Sterling
- Bass – Lequeint "Duke" Jobe
- Keyboards, Synthesizer – Mark Davis
- Oboe – William Green
- Vocal Engineer – Mitchel Delevie
- Rhythm Engineer – Karen Siegel
- Assistant Engineer– Michael Dotson
- Producer – Mark Davis and William "Smokey" Robinson
"Girl I'm Standing There"
- Cello – Michael "Jake" Jacobsen
- Concertmaster – Harry Bluestone
- Rhythm Engineer – Mitchel Delevie, Paul Ring
"Driving Thru Life In The Fast Lane"
- Backing Vocals – Julia Tillman Waters, Maxine Willard Waters, Oren Waters, Smokey Robinson
- Bass – Joseph Chemay
- Drums – John E. Robinson
- Guitars – Dann Huff, Paul M. Jackson, Jr.
- Keyboards – John Hobbs
- Percussion – Paulinho da Costa
- Trombones – Dick Hyde, Richard Noel
- Trumpets – Gary Grant, Warren Luening, Jerry Hey
- Horns Arrangements – Larry Herbstritt
- Rhythm Arrangements – Steve Dorff
- Session Coordinator – Dave Pell
- Engineer – Ed Barton, Gary Singleman, Marv Clamme
- Producer – Randy Dunlap, Steve Dorff
Essar to Emgee
The cover backside contains a handwritten message: "A note to Emgee: We're really gonna miss you, Essar" – obviously from Smokey Robinson (S.R.) to his colleague Marvin Gaye (M.G.) who was murdered on April 1, 1984.[4]
References
External links
| ||||||||||||||||||||||
